


Learning to Run Before You Could Walk

by apollos



Series: To Make Real [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Hyuuga Neji Lives, Injury Recovery, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-War, Pre-Relationship, Rebuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-09-25 07:37:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17117180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apollos/pseuds/apollos
Summary: Neji lives. Neji recovers. It is a long, arduous process.Konoha lives. Konoha recovers. It is a long, arduous process.The two overlap.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i'm gonna be real with you all....this series came out of the desire to write neji/tenten sex pollen fic, and then going, well, i need a reason for this to happen, which means neji needs to be alive, and it's not like i'm ever going to turn down the opportunity to revive neji. so then an entire little universe has grown out of it.
> 
> everything is going to be canon compliant, plot and couples-wise (except for the "the last" movie, because even though i love it, i can't help but think things would have been different had neji lived) (and also except for kakagai, which isn't ~official~ canon but might as well be.) a few minor original characters as well, but they do NOT dominate the work.
> 
> this story is the first and will cover neji's recovery from his injuries/konoha's recovery, about the timespan of a year. neji and tenten DO NOT GET TOGETHER in this, but the seeds are sewn here!

Many heroes go unsung in the time of war, but Team Gai will never forget the name of the third-rank Hyuuga, Youta, who seized Neji after he was impaled by spikes and spirited him to the nearest medical tent. Nor will they forget the first responder, Sora, who attended him so deftly despite being a mere student; it's made significantly easier by Sora and Youta's marriage, Neji's near-death providing their meet-cute, but still, Team Gai reveres thee two men, for all they have done for their beloved.

Youta sees Neji falls, hears his speech about Naruto, and knows this isn't right. Youta is a fellow second branch member, one of the many assigned to Princess Hinata herself as a bodyguard. He knows he's not important, not as important as Neji or even Kou. He's a lousy, lackluster ninja, an eternal Chuunin, dragged to the front lines by the necessity of war. A lesser man would have perhaps saved Neji in an attempt to further his own career, but that's not what Youta is thinking. Youta is thinking about the cruelty and injustice of it all; Youta is thinking about his admiration for Neji, despite Neji being younger than him, for his form and beauty of his jutsu, and Youta is thinking about that selfless devotion Neji has just shown. Or perhaps he's not consciously thinking of any of these at all, perhaps he thinks all these things up later, and acts because such tenants exist at his very core.

He grabs Neji from the ground and knows just enough about medicine to not remove the spikes from his abdomen as he leaps with Neji's ragdoll body in his arms. He can't feel a pulse, is pretty sure it's too late, but at the very least, he can deliver the corpse with dignity. He finds the nearest medical tent—it's small, dingy, clearly not a main one—and rushes inside, holding Neji like an offering.

There's only one medical ninja inside and two patients, both of whom are conscious and crouching on cots, probably waiting for medicine to take effect before heading back out. The medical ninja is a slight man with purple-tinted hair not unlike Youta's own, but very deep black eyes, marking him as a non-Hyuuga. "He's been hurt," Youta says to him, referring to Neji.

"I can see that," the man says in a soft voice. He approaches and puts a small hand on Neji's neck. "There's a pulse," he announces, and Youta feels a strange, disproportionate amount of relief flood through him. "Very faint. The chakra system is still circulating as well. I can't do anything about these spikes—we don't have the equipment, and I don't really know how." Sora announces all of this is a matter-of-fact way; he's not sheepish about his lack of skill, or equipment; in the future, Youta acknowledges this as a trait they share, their humility. "But I can stabilize him and dispatch a message to a senior medical ninja, I think. I hope."

Sora pumps a thin amount of chakra into Neji's neck and walks to a cot. He takes a kunai from his pouch and cuts holes in it.

"Um?" Youta asks.

"Please place him so that the spikes go through the holes in the cot," Sora explains. "It's too dangerous to remove them at this moment—it seems his body has adapted to their presence and is functioning the best it can despite this. I'm sorry, but I'm the only one in this tent. I'll need you to fill out some paperwork, your name and his, and his condition—I'll tell you all the terms—while I work on him, because it's going to take a continuous effort. Now, place him on that cot, and do hurry."

Youta takes great care to position Neji just so. His eyes are open, but clearly unseeing, and it disturbs Youta so much he closes the eyelids. Sora kneels beside Neji immediately, placing his hands near each spike and summoning chakra. He says things like  _I see_ to himself, and then to Youta, in such the same tone that it takes Youta a second to realize he's being spoken to, "A scroll and ink is over on the table behind me and to the left. Record your name and his. Record that he is suffering from the following." Youta struggles to write down all the strange terms that Sora lists, but he manages. "Now, I need you to find Shizune, Tsunade, or a man named Akimari. They're all senior medical nin who will be able to properly work on him, and one of them should be in the bigger tents. There's one to the northwest of here, after a large fallen tree. You'll recognize it. Hurry."

Leaving Sora with his hands hovering above Neji, Youta rushes out. He leaps in and out of several battles, thankful that he doesn't draw anybody's attention. It occurs to him that he's left his post as Hinata's bodyguard, and that he might be punished for it. Maybe, he thinks, his saving of Neji will save him in turn. He left Hinata with Naruto; Naruto will protect her, he's certain of this, and he knows that this is where he's needed now, pirouetting about the battlefield to seek help.

He finds the medical tent according to Sora's instructions in about fifteen minutes, and this one is indeed busier, bustling with injured shinobi—and a few dead ones, too, but Youta ignores them. He rushes inside and asks a nurse for the head of the tent, and from behind a flap sectioning off the more seriously injured a man appears. He's tall and pale with fine hair and lined eyes, clearly exhausted.

"Akimari?" Youta asks.

"Yes?"

"A member of the Hyuuga family has been gravely injured. Sora sent me. He has these spikes through him, they need to be removed, but Sora doesn't know how to do it."

Akimari's brow crinkles. "A member of the Hyuuga family?"

"One of the heir-apparent's closest friends," Youta adds. "A very strong ninja—Hyuuga Neji, if you've heard of him?"

Akimari's eyes light up. "And stakes, you said?"

"Yes. Sora said to hurry." Youta bounces on the balls of his feat. "Please—there's still a pulse, but faint—"

Akimari wipes his hands on his shirt and nods. To the nurse, he says, "You're in charge now. I trust you."

The nurse answers in the affirmative and walks past Akimari into the flap herself. Akimari tightens his forehead protector and adjusts the pouch around his thigh, checking for something, and nods again. "Let's go," he says to Youta. "Bring me to the patient."

They make the journey back in half the time, pumping chakra to their legs to run faster. The two men that had been in here earlier are now gone, Neji the sole patient. Akimari and Youta meet to converse in low whispers, words Youta doesn't know the meaning of floating out. He should probably return to Hinata; he might be punished by the clan for leaving his duty, even if it was to serve another member of the clan. Even if it's Neji. Youta cannot make himself move, however. He watches as Akimari instructs Sora to stand beside Neji and pump his heart with Youta's own chakra force, watches as Akimari carefully seals around the stakes.

"Should I leave?" Youta asks as Akimari starts to cut Neji's robe away from his chest.

"You can keep watch outside the tent," Akimari says, not looking up. "This is a very delicate situation, and we cannot really do much about it until we get him to the hospital, which we obviously cannot do. All we can do is stabilize him. It's going to be a continuous effort. Please guard us."

"Be careful," Sora says, his voice still so gentle and smooth. It makes Youta's heart pick up a little, but there is no time to think about that, of course.

Youta has always been good at doing what he is told to do, so he stands outside the tent, arms crossed, Byakugan activated and ready. Shortly after Youta takes his position outside the tent, which actually proves uneventful and consists mostly of fetching soldier pills for Sora and Akimari to keep their stamina up while they work on Neji, Sakura deploys the healing jutsu, and everybody enters into the dream state. The war ends, Youta thinks, before it really even begins. That's for the better, really. The world doesn't need such a thing. Even better is Sora, emerging from Neji's surgery room after helping deliver him to Tsunade, smiling at Youta and saying, "Would you like to get a cup of tea?"

* * *

 

_They are alive, they are themselves, they are wearing their normal clothes, not their war fatigues. They are on the training field, they are about to spar. They are sitting across from one another, their knees touching. The birds are singing, there are bees buzzing around wildflowers, there are thick, fat, white clouds in the sky, but the sun is not obscured. Tenten is laughing, Neji has said something to make her laugh. He laughs, too. He touches his forehead. There is no hitai-ate, no wrapping, no seal. He touches her hand. She touches back. He feels alive, he feels whole, he feels one._

_When your dream is not a dream: to feel complete._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: the inspiration to finish this chapter came from some side-characters in the kdrama "mirror of the witch" who have STRONG nejiten energy. i want to write an au based off of that for them, and then i exercised the .5 ounces of self-restraint i have to continue this story instead.

Tenten and Lee both escape the war without any major injuries, and for that they are thankful. They are also thankful that Neji and Gai have escaped with their lives—though both barely—and they are thankful for the quickness of the rebuilding of the half-destroyed Konoha hospital, and they are thankful for the staff that works at the hospital. They are not thankful for the amount of time over the next year that they spend at the hospital.

As soon as possible, Neji and Gai's comatose bodies are moved from the battlefield to the wing of Konoha's hospital that has survived the war, which is actually the wing for outpatient surgery and ear, nose and throat complaints, unfortunately. Tenten and Lee follow the medical nin transporting their comrades, their faces still streaked with dirt and blood, Infinite Tsukuyomi weighing on their minds, streets in rubble, people crying. The adrenaline has faded but not fallen off. Their hearts are beating too fast for their steps, but they cannot go any faster, lives are still at stake, even now.

Naturally, they split at the hospital. Gai and Neji are taken to different rooms, prepped for different surgeries. Lee follows Gai, Tenten follows Neji. The spikes still stick from his chest, now starting to glow with chakra, with the machinations the medical nin have put in place to allow his body to keep working.

"And you are?" One of the ninja, an older man with fine hair, asks her.

"Tenten. His teammate." The word feels too trite, too unimportant, to justify her being there, even though Konoha ninja take teams and teammates very seriously. "His best friend." Redundant and unprofessional, her training reminds her.

"This surgery is going to be long and consist of multiple processes," the doctor says. "My name is Yamanaka Akimari, and I will be the leading surgeon, though Tsunade-sama and Shizune might have to be called in."

"Of course," Tenten says. She's not looking at Akimari, but at Neji, lying on the hospital bed.

"We're going to sand the stakes down today and keep him stable," Akimari continues. He moves to Neji's bed, in Tenten's vision, and touches a spike. Chakra colors swirl, intensify, and he removes his hand, brow furrowed. "Seeing as he is still stable, and there are other patients that are  _not_ stable, and we will need to hold a conference before deciding how to proceed, non-essential surgery—surgery that will bring him out of this coma—will be delayed. Does this make sense?"

"Of course," Tenten says, again. She decides she likes Akimari and the plain way he speaks to her. She wouldn't want somebody to sugarcoat things. She wants to know, even if the knowledge is grim.

"You may stay if you like, but in my medical opinion, I think you need a shower and some sleep." Akimari smiles at her; the smile is a little sad, and Tenten appreciates that, too, that he's not trying to fake cheer. "Please also get something to eat and drink. Your body will thank you."

Tenten leaves the room, forgetting to say anything else to Akimari, unable to stomach the sight of those long spikes, feeling like a zombie. Feeling like she's sleepwalking, more in a dream than the dream-jutsu itself. She forgets how to walk home, and then when she remembers she finds out that her apartment complex has been destroyed, anyway. She stands in front of the ruins and stares, trying to remember something to be upset about, but her worldly possessions are so little, and everything she really cares about is either sealed into scrolls on her back or in the barely-functional Konoha hospital.

Unsure of what to do and starting to crave that shower and that sleep Akimari had mentioned, she wanders through the streets, looking for anywhere to purchase food or anybody she knows. Some buildings have survived; surely, somebody, somewhere, will offer her a warm bowl of noodles and a change of clothes. She eventually finds a large tent in what used to be the commercial quarters, not unlike the medical ones from the war, from which the smell of something cooking wafts through. She enters.

The space is smaller inside than it looked and cramped with bodies and beds. She locates the food as several plain bowls of noodles sitting on hot plates, the guy that works Ichirauku and his daughter stirring a large pot on a fire behind them. Tenten takes a bowl and reaches into her pocket for some coins, but the woman turns around, shaking her head. "We work for free," she says. "It's the least we can do."

"Thank you so much," Tenten says, bowing. She still feels out of her head and knows she would never bow at these people so deeply otherwise, but the simple bowl of noodles she holds in her hand feels like liquid gold. She takes the bowl and heads towards a smattering of hastily set up tables, where she finds somebody she recognizes: Kiba Inuzaka.

She nods at him, too tired to think of a greeting. Characteristically, he speaks first: "I heard about Neji."

"Yeah," Tenten says. She takes a pair of disposable chopsticks from the pile on top of the table and breaks them apart.

"How is he?" Kiba's voice and eyes are serious. Akamaru, snoozing by Kiba's feet, even rolls his head and blinks open his eyes, as if waiting for an answer.

"Don't know yet. Said they need to have a counsel to decide." Tenten sighs, closing her eyes. "Comatose. Look, Kiba—I don't want to talk. I want to eat and sleep."

"Suit yourself," Kiba says, shrugging and turning his attention back to his own bowl, nearly empty. "I know it's hard. I heard about Gai, too. Just—remember what Tsunade did for Lee, okay? I believe in Konoha." His voice breaks on the last sentence; he shovels the last of his noodles in his mouth, covers the mistake. Tenten doesn't acknowledge it, and not from some source of undeniable emotional intelligence—from her own pure, ignorant exhaustion, the fumes on which she is running telling her to eat and then sleep, shower be damned.

Kiba leaves soon after, leaving Tenten at the table with ninjas she doesn't recognize. Fine by her. Uninterested in making friends, or even making nice, they eat in silence. She cannot actually taste the noodles, but the warmth is welcome, sitting pleasantly in her belly. She slurps the broth in three quick gulps and then brings the bowl to a washing station run by somebody else she does not recognize, clothing indicating them as a civilian, and finally lays claim to a cot in the middle of the room. She'll have to skip the shower for now, but maybe they'll let her use one at the hospital. She is not unused to filth, grime, muck, dirt. She doesn't mind it, not really.

Sleep seizes her like it's going to drag her to Hell. She does not dream, except for a persistent sensation of falling.

She wakes to the feeling of pressure on her cot near her legs. Her hands go to her pouch, grabbing a kunai. In her disorientation, she thinks she's on the battlefield, she can't believe she fell asleep unguarded—

"Tenten." The voice is familiar—Sakura Haruno. Tenten's vision clears from the fear-induced blindness, and she sees Sakura, in medical fatigues, and watches as she pries the kunai from her fingers.

"Where am I?" Tenten asks.

"One of the medical tents." Sakura puts the kunai back in Tenten's pouch for her, then motions for her to sit up.

Coming to a seated position, Tenten asks, "How long have I been asleep for?"

"I don't know what time you got here, but you were asleep when I came on shift nine hours ago."

"The morning," Tenten says. "I came in the morning."

Sakura gives Tenten a strange look. "It's the morning now. I had the overnight."

"I've been here for—twenty-four hours?" Tenten balks, panic taking her. "I have to—I have to get to the hospital—Neji—Gai—Lee—" She starts to stand, prepared to run, pumping chakra to her calves, but Sakura grabs her and slams her back on the bed. Tenten forgets how strong she is, sometimes, and in a different time, she would have been a little jealous of that strength.

"Gai is still in surgery," Sakura says, "but it's going well. Lee is with him. Neji's counsel is today. I'm to take part in it."

"Do you have to sound so fucking  _smug_?" Tenten grumbles, turning away from Sakura.

"Hey." Sakura puts a hand on her shoulder. "There's no need to be like that. I came to find you  _because_ I'm going to be at the counsel. I wanted your input."

"My input?" Tenten shakes her head. "What input could I possibly have?"

"You know him the best," Sakura explains. "You know his abilities, his skills. We suspect the stakes might have damaged his chakra system. Possibly beyond repair. When I left the main hospital, they were about to go into surgery, to see."

"Those are a lot of possibilities." Tenten shrugs Sakura's hand off her shoulder and stands up. "I want certainties. I'm going to the hospital."

She leaves the conversation, expecting a dramatic (and petulant) finish, but Sakura trails after her, still talking. "I'll follow you," she says. "I'm needed back at the hospital."

"Don't you sleep?"

"Soldier pills," Sakura supplies, sounding too cheerful. Tenten wonders if it's the side effect of the pills. "I'm needed here, there—I have to stay awake. Tsunade-sama is recovering, Shizune is in charge of these tents and Akimari of the hospital. I have to go between them. There's a few other nurses, but a lot of them are injured, too, and Tsunade-sama appointed me as acting head nurse."

They push their way through the tent and out into the daylight, which hurts Tenten's eyes after slumbering for so long. It's unusually hot, almost sweltering, and Tenten chalks it up to some lingering effects of somebody's jutsu. The sun wavers in the sky and sweat collects along her brow, running streaks of dirt into her vision.

"There's something else I want to talk to you about," Sakura continues as they turn for the direction of the hospital. "We have to rebuild the city, and we're going to start with the hospital."

"Makes sense," Tenten mutters.

"Kakashi and Yamato are overseeing the project. Kakashi says that Gai would have, had he been able."

Tenten rubs at her head, thick with sleep, her brain feeling like somebody had turned it off and forgotten to turn it back on again. She keeps forgetting Neji and Gai's states, while simultaneously being so aware of them. Her legs are moving but she isn't sure if she's the one moving them. "And?" she asks, after too long.

"We want you and Lee to be involved as well," Sakura says. "Neji and Gai are the worst patients. It's only fair, and you guys will probably be at the hospital all the time anyway,  _and_ your team is so physically strong—"

"Sakura," Tenten intones. "I think you need to lay off the soldier pills. You're rambling."

"But will you help with the hospital reconstruction?"

"Of course," Tenten says. "It's my duty."

Sakura stops them, grabs at Tenten's wrist. There is a fierceness in her expression. She looks nearly deranged, yet so determined, eyes narrowed, strands of hair escaping the bun she has it tied back in. "Stop," Sakura says. "I know you're tired, but you need to drop this act. I  _know_ how important Neji is to you." She lets the word  _know_ , with all its weight, stay in the air, buzz like a bloated mosquito in this surreal heat. "I know how important Gai and Lee are, too. Something you learn as a medical nin is that spirit can be just as important as medicine for recovery. So cooperate with me here, Tenten."

Tenten yanks her hand away. "You're making a lot of assumptions," she says, turning her head.

"I'm not the enemy. Let's go."

"I don't take orders from you." Tenten follows her anyway.

"The input I need. The chakra system. Do you think Neji could live without being a ninja?"

What should be a shocking, earth-shattering statement instead hits Tenten as gently and ineffectively as a summer breeze. Could Neji live without being a ninja? Could  _she_ live without being a ninja? Could she live as a ninja without Neji being a ninja? No, no, no. Selfishness tells her no. But—she could see Neji retiring to a monastic style of living, meditating, practicing calligraphy, tending to birds, instructing, settling. She could see him be—what, happy? Safe? Out of harm's way? What did he protest fate for, if this is his fate? Exhaustedly, earnestly, Tenten says, "I can't make that decision."

Sakura sighs. "Your best guess, then."

"What are you going to do if he can't be a ninja? Kill him? What type of question is this, Sakura?"

Sakura does not answer. The victory does not taste sweet at all.

The rest of the walk to the hospital passes by in tense quiet. Mental acuteness creeps back to Tenten, but her body remains physically exhausted. She can feel the grime and guck in every pore and crease of her body. Flashes of Neji with those stakes, and Gai with a leg mangled beyond any human form, return to her, over and over again, red blood and red skin, orange, white. Sakura's jaw grates audibly; Tenten knows she's biting her tongue, grinding her teeth, trying not to scold her. I'm older than you, Tenten thinks. Even if at this age, the year's difference makes no difference at all. And the old refrain, the one that Tenten resorts to in times of bitterness, to make herself feel better:  _Sasuke doesn't even care about you, so why do you pretend to_ know  _about Neji?_ She swats that thought, that bloated mosquito, away as fast as it comes.

Sakura shows her ID to the two tired and rather young ninja—fresh Chuunin, probably—on guard duty at the remains of the hospital. They duck under some rubble and walk through the halls, where civilian volunteers are already sweeping and cleaning, clearing rooms for more use. In the wider areas, a few ninja collect in clumps, wearing bandages, having measurements taken. Tenten memorizes the route to Neji's room; he's in the first branching hallway, on the right. "Gai's in the other wing," Sakura explains. "That's where the best surgery room was preserved. Neji will move there when we can get Gai out for a while, I think."

Tenten doesn't respond. She has questions, but not questions for Sakura; she feels relief when she sees Akimari in the room, looking the exact same as yesterday, standing by Neji's bed and holding his hands above his stomach.

"Sakura-san," Akimari says without even turning around, nodding.

"I brought Tenten," Sakura says. She goes to Neji's other side, puts a hand to his forehead.

Tenten notices, for the first time, that Neji's forehead is blank—both in that he has no headband, and that there's no cursed seal. Her eyes widen and she rushes to his side, prods Sakura in the side to get a closer look. Too afraid to touch him, to contaminate him, to get to close and drip sweat and dirt on him, Tenten crouches instead, stares at the pallid expanse of skin. Faintly, so faintly, she can make out the lines of the mark; barely-there scars, a lighter shade of white on an already white face. Her gaze drifts downwards, at the delicate eyelids whose eyes underneath are moving improbably fast, the little veins, prominent and yet so miniscule in comparison to their activation. The slope of his aristocratic, long nose, and the slight bow of his lips, frowning as they do when he rests, his skin unblemished by wrinkles or lines or scars, except for the remains of the cursed seals. Tears prick in the corner of Tenten's eyes. She stands, embarrassed, not only by her actions, but by the understanding silence accompanying them.

"Status remains the same," Akimari says as professionally as ever while Tenten stands with her back to them, wiping at her eyes. "The counsel will begin as soon as Tsunade-sama and Shizune arrive."

"Excellent," Sakura says.

"I see you haven't had a change of clothes." At the direct address, Tenten turns around to face Akimari. His nose wrinkles slightly. "Or a shower."

"Sakura dragged me here without a chance. I overslept."

"She slept for an entire day," Sakura supplies. Tenten glares at her.

"You must have needed it. You should really get checked out by a nurse. The bathroom facilities are largely in-tact, thank goodness, and you should be able to shower and change there."

"Okay," Tenten says. "And—Gai? Lee?"

"Gai is still in surgery," Akimari says, looking at his clipboard. "Your teammate is in his room. He refuses to go home."

"There's no home to go to," Tenten sighs. It was true before the war, really, and it's doubly true now. "Can I see him?"

"Please take care of yourself first," Akimari implores again, dropping his clipboard to his side. "You can not underestimate the strength this requires of you. You are fighting, too, and they need you in your best condition. Sakura, bring her to a nurse, and then report to me."

"I'll just do it myself," Sakura says. She nods towards the door.

Tenten follows her to one of the treatment areas. Sakura sits her on a stool and opens a drawer, taking out a sterile batch of medical tools. She tests Tenten's eyes; fine. Blood pressure; fine. Ears, nose, throat, all fine. "I think you may have sprained your right ankle," Sakura says finally, and when Tenten looks at her now bare foot, she sees that, indeed, her ankle is swollen to twice its supposed size. That explains the malfunction of her legs, that which she had chalked up to exhaustion. "I'll bandage it, but you're going to have to go without painkillers. We're short on supply."

"That's fine," Tenten says. "I didn't even notice, really."

"Shock," Sakura says. "Everybody has it."

"And you have soldier pills."

"I told you," Sakura replies tersely, "I am not the enemy. Now, go take a shower. Here's some clothes. I'll bandage your ankle once it's clean."

Tenten complies. Sakura hands her a plain khaki pant and shirt, women's size standard, and gives Tenten directions to the communal shower. There are a few other women in there and Tenten showers quickly, not liking the separation, the inaction. She undoes her hair and braids it down the back while it's wet, too tired to put it in its normal buns, her usual hair ties ruined, anyway. The khaki pants and shirt fit; she slides her feet into a pair of hospital slippers and feels the pain in her ankle for the first time. She's had worse.

Sakura makes good on her promise. "You smell much better," she informs Tenten.

"Yeah," Tenten says. She noticed it, too. "My ankle has started to hurt."

"And shock is wearing off," Sakura announces. "That's good. We're out of the thick of it. We'll be able to start to rebuild."

"Everybody is so  _positive_ ," Tenten says. "It's grating."

"Do you want bad news?" Sakura looks up at Tenten, brows together.

"No. I want realism."

"Hope can be realistic," Sakura says, returning to Tenten's ankle. She has almost finished the bandage. "Neji and Gai are going to live, Tenten. We won the war. There's no reason not to hope."

Tenten sighs. She can't argue, not really, but it's not as simple. She and Sakura have taken two different paths through life, gotten to two similar and yet so different places. In her right head, Tenten wars with herself not to let herself slip into that bitterness she so often watches take over her fellow shinobi—that had, indeed, taken over such a large portion of Neji's life—and tries to be like Sakura, like Lee. These are people who have experienced hardships, just as great if not occasionally greater than Tenten's, and that continue to soldier on. Tenten tries to soldier on, too, and normally, she succeeds. But even after twenty-four hours of sleep, she feels like all her energy for trying has been depleted, that she does not have the resources to replete that effort, and all she wants to do—she doesn't know what she wants to do, or what she wants. The closest want she feels, actually, is to resume work. To reconstruct the hospital. And more nebulously, to regain certainty, whatever that means.

"Your ankle's done. Do you want crutches?"

"No, I can walk on it."

"Alright."

Another nurse, one that looks no more than fourteen years old, rushes to Sakura. "Sakura! Tsunade-sama and Shizune have arrived. They sent me to tell you."

"Thank you, Kazuko." Sakura smiles at the nurse, who rushes away again. "Tenten, you have a choice: you can wait with Neji while we start the counsel, or you can go visit Gai and Lee. The counsel will probably take—"

"I'll wait with Neji." Tenten pushes herself off the stool and limps in the direction of his room.

* * *

 

"We are gathered here today to discuss the case of Neji Hyuuga," Tsunade begins, reading from a file. "The consulting doctors are: Yamanaka Akimari, who has and will continue to oversee his treatment; Shizune; Sakura; myself; and Watanabe Sora, who was the first to treat Neji in the field."

Sora stands and bows. Everybody else nods back at him.

"Alright. Akimari, please give your findings from today's surgery."

Akimari opens the folder in front of him, pulling out a picture. He holds it up; Sakura sees a diagram of a chakra system, several points blocked off, black holes where the stakes must have hit. He hands the picture to Sora, seated at his left, then speaks. 'Today's surgery revealed that the stakes have punctured Neji's appendix and left lung, as well as several of his key chakra points. His lung has adapted to the intrusive presence and provides the most difficult obstacle in removing the stakes. We could, of course, take the lung itself out."

"That's a last resort," Tsunade says. It's not a question.

"Correct, Hokage-sama. I believe a better method, one that would ensure a better chance of survival and the resume of his duties as a Konoha ninja, is to remove the other stakes first, let his body heal, and then remove the lung stake in a careful process. I have outlined the process below." He pulls out another piece of paper, passing it around. Sakura receives the chakra system diagram and studies it; indeed, the stake went through the left lung just so, that the bare minimum functions could continue. Akimari's voice takes her attention away. "If we insert an organic mesh over the stake, let his body adapt to that mesh, then remove the stake, and then let the mesh dissolve, and utilize your healing technology, Tsunade, then we have a decent chance of saving the lung."

Tsunade nods slowly, pursing her lips. "And the mesh?"

"That's where I come in, Hokaga-sama," Shizune says. "I believe I can improve upon a preexisting prototype, used for similar organ repair. With the help of medical jutsu, if all things go perfectly, then it would work. The problem is that his body might treat the mesh like an organ transplant and reject it."

"That's correct," Akimari says. "These are the hurdles to this operation. This assumes, too, that the removal of the chakra-blocking stakes goes well."

"The chakra system," Sakura says, glancing at the drawing. "Is it damaged beyond repair?"

"We don't actually know," Akimari says. He pushes the folder away and sighs. "There is evidence of chakra flowing  _in_ the stakes themselves. We've had similar cases that have gone both ways. The stakes are too unique a jutsu for direct comparison. It might have adapted, like the lung. In that case, removal of the stakes might take away the chakra circulation." He trails off, putting his head in his hands.

"Which would make him impotent as a ninja," Sakura finishes. She sucks her tongue between her teeth and fingers the diagram.

The room falls silent. Sakura stares at the diagram. Something feels just beyond her reach, something obvious, an easy solution. The chakra system is too delicate, too small, to use organic mesh like they will for the lung; besides, organic mesh would not work like that. They need a conductor, like the stakes, possibly permanently, to preserve the flow. But the stakes themselves are so large, and Neji can't walk around with huge chunks of metal in his chest forever.

"Excuse me," Sora says. Everybody looks at him, and Sakura sees what she assumes to be her own expression mirrored on them all: pessimism. "I don't have a solution, and I'm sorry. I would like to thank you again for having me here. What I do have is an observation. It has been sixty-four hours since the stakes impaled Neji and he continues to live. This is a good sign. His body is showing remarkable adaptability. Additionally, Shizune, I am aware of the previous treatment that Neji had received for a similar injury, and he was able to recover from that as well."

Shizune nods.

"Is that jutsu useful in this situation?" Sora asks.

Shizune's face falls; she shakes her head. "His chakra system wasn't damaged in that attack, nor any organs," she says. "We will use the same method to heal the holes left by the stakes, but it won't help with the other issues."

"Ah," Sora says, falling back in his chair.

"It was worth bringing up," Sakura offers. "Maybe—like we adjust that mesh—we can adjust that jutsu to heal the holes in the system?"

"That would take much finesse," Tsunade says. She taps a finger on her chin. "Between that and the healing of his body—this is a process that will take months, and many procedures, and assumes the cooperation of his body along the way. There is some medicine that can assist in preventing the rejection of the mesh by his body, but as we have all acknowledged, the damage to the chakra system remains the main problem."

"Neji is an excellent ninja," Sakura says firmly. "One of Konoha's best. One of the best among the best. But—I think he could adapt to life outside of the ninja path."

A small gasp flutters through the room, indeterminate in origin. Breath pauses, then resumes.

"I agree," Tsunade says at last, measuredly, "wholeheartedly."

"Akimari-sempai has offered a way in which to return him to life, if not to be a ninja, but the procedure he offers us gives us more time to work on the chakra problem. I am in favor of his suggestion." Sakura bows her head lightly.

"I am, as well. Thank you." Sora bows his head.

"It is decided," Tsunade says. "Akimari, remove the nonthreatening stakes. Shizune, you are to perfect your organ mesh. Sora, you are to help her." She pauses, giving Sora time to bow once more and thank her for the promotion. "Sakura, you are relieved of this particular duty and are to return to your status as head nurse. Thank you all for coming, thank you for your work, and let us put our best into this. Hyuga Neji is an important person, not just to Konoha and the Hyuga clan at large, but to many individuals. We cannot, and will not, fail him and his loved ones."

While they gather their things and depart, Sakura stops Akimari. "Can you make copies of those scans for me, please?" she asks him.

"I can," he says. "It might take a while until I or an assistant can get a free moment."

"That's fine. I barely have a free moment myself. I just feel like there's something we're missing."

"It always feels like something's missing," Akimari murmurs. "That's how progress keeps moving. That feeling. It's the drive to do better than before."

"I mean it," Sakura says. They move to the door of the meeting room, waiting for Shizune to assist Tsunade before leaving themselves.

"Excuse me." Sora, the ever-polite intern, interrupts with a tone of guilt in his voice. "I agree with Sakura-san. I feel there is something we are missing. I have a friend in the Hyuga clan whom I believe can assist us. The Hyuga library has several texts, some rather obscure, about the chakra system, and I believe they will acquiesce some to us due to this situation."

"Excellent!" Sakura claps her hands together. "Why didn't you tell Tsunade-sama that?"

"I just remembered," Sora says, a small blush forming over his cheeks. "I'll see my friend on my break and ask for the texts."

They nod at each other and part, Akimari again promising to get the scans to Sakura as soon as possible, and Sora rededicating himself to retrieving the Hyuga chakra texts. Something continues to nag at the back of Sakura's head; she allows the question to dominate her thoughts as she walks to the nurses' station in the hospital for another dosage of soldier pills, and then once she swallows them, she puts it out of her mind. She has not slept in two and a half days. The immediate emergency injuries from the war have largely been taken care of, and a window for rest and thought will open again soon; for now, she has the smallest handful of minutes to check on her two boys, stashed away safely underground, and then to return to the countless other citizens that need her.


End file.
